Zusammenfassung der Ressource
How is Sonnet 116 linked with Sonnet 43?
- Love is eternal
- Love is above change
- 116: Line 2 => Love literally placed above the
'alterations' that indicate change describes the notion
that true love is above obstacles using a metaphor
- 116: Love is described as a star
- Love is transcendent and above time/change as it is otherworldly
- Star is central position for sailors => In this poem love could
be interpreted as the central metaphor for love as it is
positioned in the middle of the poem showing that love is
central, can be relied apon and will never falter
- Love has no end and is
never undone
- 116: Line 11 => Hours and weeks are small
measurements of time when compared to the 'edge
of doom' used in the next line. This helps to
highlight the idea that time is insignificant and trivial
when compared to the eternal nature of love
- Both poems present the idea that love is timeless
- 116: 'Rosy lips and cheeks'
=> youth imagery to personify
abstract concepts of love and
time so that the reader can
understand the timeless on a
metaphorical level
- 43: 'childhood's faith' and 'old griefs' are
juxtaposed to present the concept that both
the young and old can be involved with love,
highlighting love as a timeless concept
- 43: Enjambment on line 2: shows how far her soul and
love reaches as they can exceed any limitation (the end
of the line could be interpreted as a limitation)
- 116: Line 5 => He associates love with creative writing as he
compared love to an 'ever-fixed mark' showing that a mark on a
page of writing is as eternal as the nature of love
- Love is powerful emotion that can overcome all
- Love is greater
than obstacles
- 43: 'Old griefs' - things that haunt you. They represent that
love will be beset by problems and regrets but it is no less
powerful as true love will be able to overcome them
- 116 : 'Let me not...' => He
can not argue with the
power of love as he is but a
human compared with the
power and intensity of
immortal love => He has no
power over love
- 116: enjambment of second line physically presents
the notion that love is above obstacles as it is
syntactically placed above 'impediments' to show
that love's power can overcome any obstacles
- Love is transcendent
and above death
- 116: Love is syntactically
placed before Time in line 9
=> love is primary focus as it
is more powerful and can
overcome death
- Love is on a level with the divine
- 116: 'Let me not...' => Literal: union of two intellectual equals.
=> Metaphor: love is not just about two hearts joining but is
spiritual rather than physical as it is an everlasting union of two
feelings
- 43: semantic field of religion => love is powerful and sacred as
it is compared to religion and described to be on a level with the
divine showing it's omnipotence
- 43: line 14 death is placed at the end of the
sentence/poem showing that death is
second to love as love is expressed
throughout poem whereas death is only at
end => Also, love is said to have a new
intensity after death in this line portraying
the idea that death can't restrict love as it is
so transcendent it can destroy death
- 116: In line 9, 'Time' is presented as a Grimm Reaper figure.
This macabre image of death would be familiar to Elizabethans
with the constant threat of death/plague (they would have seen
death as most powerful thing) As love does not comply with
death's rules in this line, love can be seen as omnipotent and
more powerful as it give people a way to defeat death
- Love is portrayed as an abstract idea that is complex and without simple definition
- Love is an abstract idea
- Both poems use metaphors
- 43: Through the semantic field of
measurements, the poet creates a landscape
for love and presents the limitless nature of her
love as it can extend through the 3 dimensions
described => this is a special metaphor
- 116: Through using meteorological and nautical
imagery, the poet creates a setting which is imaginative
=> Through this use of a visual metaphor, Will allows for
the reader to create their own interpretation of love
whilst still presenting love through an abstract rather
than physical space
- 43: 'soul' => demonstrates that love
is more spiritual than it is physical
- Personifies soul using 'reach' in a way that the reader can understand
- 116: 'Let me not...' => demonstrates love is
a more abstract idea as it a union of abstract
minds not physical hearts
- Love is too complex and beyond human understanding
- 43: 'old griefs' and 'childhood's faith' => love encapsulates both the image of
bitter regrets epitomised by 'old griefs' and naïve nature of 'childhood's faith'
=> This illustrates that love is abstract as it would be impossible for something
simple and physical to represent both these images, therefore love is complex
- 116: Shakespeare begins by stating all the things that love is not
therefore demonstrating that it is easier to say what true love is not
as true love is so hard to define due to it's complexity
- Both poems use the sonnet form to express their idea of love
=> sonnets are specific and restrictive due to their rhyme and
meter => demonstrates potent and complex idea of love and
contrasts with the unrestricted intensity of love